"Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It's perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we've learned something from yesterday." John Wayne

Starting on this kit again as I lost a couple of parts a few years ago. Thank you Dragoncare.com. I just got the WEM photo etch for the Indy and I am not sure what to make out of the port side deck parking plate. Is the top perforated metal like what WEM provides in their set or is it a solid flat steel plate.

looking on my CVL-24 Drydock plans, both boat platforms are same length. On the other plans , and other ships, the right side one is a lot shorther.Also, the left one have one mid platform, and ledders from ship platform to this, and another ladders up to catwalk opening

On all photos that I have, CVL-24 have not this mid platform and laddersOn the other side, I have not any photo of her right boat platform

So, questions are :

Time frame is September 1944, before bomb hit and overhaul

Does The Belleau wood have this mid platform and ladders on left side?Does the right boat platform was shorter or not??

Probably I'm going to try the late camo and build her waterlined. I ordered "Carrier Down" and bought the Warship Pictorial, nr. 40, but are there any magazines that feature Princeton instead of the more usual Independence footage?

Slowly this class is growing in my intrest. I do not really like the look, the look so "Ersatz" if you know what I mean. But reading reviews and now knowing that Tracy did the technical consultant work on them makes me want to get one in 350...I just hope Tracy's phone will ring in the not too distant future and Drangon on the other end wants him to do a new Essex family...

Just as long as they work with me instead of "send us all your photos, K.. bye."

One of the things I find interesting with ships is the meshing of the need for hull efficiency with the mission "above the water." The Independence CVLs are an "interesting" design in that you have a beautiful hull form and one of the ugliest structures above the main deck ever to set sail.....

I asked a question a while ago about the 1/700 Dragon kit of USS Belleau Wood and don't recall ever getting an answer. The kit includes an etch Island which is different to the plastic one. Can anyone tell me anything about this? The pics I've seen of the ship during WW2, look more like the plastic kit island.

I only worked with Dragon on their 1/350th kits, so I'm not as familiar with the 1/700 offerings. If you mean this kit the enclosed bridge is wrong and looks more like what was installed during her later French Service (That said, I don't know if it's accurate even for that). Most looks mostly right, so it would mainly be a fairly simple rebuild of the enclosed bridge area - all flat shapes.

I only worked with Dragon on their 1/350th kits, so I'm not as familiar with the 1/700 offerings. If you mean this kit the enclosed bridge is wrong and looks more like what was installed during her later French Service (That said, I don't know if it's accurate even for that). Most looks mostly right, so it would mainly be a fairly simple rebuild of the enclosed bridge area - all flat shapes.

Thanks, that makes sense. There's two etch masts, so the next step is to work out which is which! I'm thinking of modelling her in early 44, as I've never modelled a ship in MS14, so I'll have to check out the radar and AA fit, although I suspect the kit is probably accurate enough in that way. Which flight deck stain would she have had in early 44?

... there was the introduction of a new flight deck stain for carriers called #21 Flight Deck stain which began to be employed on the ESSEX class as they came into service in 1943. This color when newly applied exactly matched that of 5-0 Ocean Gray. This new stain was also used on the flight decks of INDEPENDENCE class CVLs and CVE classes in 1943 and into 1944. About mid 1944 there was the introduction of #21 Flight Deck stain (revised). This revised stain was (when newly applied) identical to 20B deck Blue (revised) and was a near match in service with the introduction in March 1944 of glossy Sea Blue, a new camouflage color for use on carrier aircraft.

I'm on my laptop and am limited to Navsource's CVL-24 page for now. There was a fairly systemic evolution to the mast that might enable you to use other ships photos to fill in the blanks. In early 1944 she would have had what I call the "Early" mast, which featured only a single yardarm to starboard and an angled/wedge truss structure forward, sort f like a stubby construction crane. This was cut off later and a more squared off appearance left. The earlier mast is shown in this photo of CVL-25 Cowpens (larger black & white copy available here). The later mast with a double yardarm and squared off front (as well as what the covered bridge actually looked like during war time) on the same ship is available here for comparison.

... there was the introduction of a new flight deck stain for carriers called #21 Flight Deck stain which began to be employed on the ESSEX class as they came into service in 1943. This color when newly applied exactly matched that of 5-0 Ocean Gray. This new stain was also used on the flight decks of INDEPENDENCE class CVLs and CVE classes in 1943 and into 1944. About mid 1944 there was the introduction of #21 Flight Deck stain (revised). This revised stain was (when newly applied) identical to 20B deck Blue (revised) and was a near match in service with the introduction in March 1944 of glossy Sea Blue, a new camouflage color for use on carrier aircraft.

I'm on my laptop and am limited to Navsource's CVL-24 page for now. There was a fairly systemic evolution to the mast that might enable you to use other ships photos to fill in the blanks. In early 1944 she would have had what I call the "Early" mast, which featured only a single yardarm to starboard and an angled/wedge truss structure forward, sort f like a stubby construction crane. This was cut off later and a more squared off appearance left. The earlier mast is shown in this photo of CVL-25 Cowpens (larger black & white copy available here). The later mast with a double yardarm and squared off front (as well as what the covered bridge actually looked like during war time) on the same ship is available here for comparison.

Would it have been pretty much the same a Independence? I have the Classic Warship book on that, so plenty of good pics.